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Lot Essay
Chappuis (op. cit) noted that this drawing is a study for the oil painting that Venturi listed as no. 498 in his 1936 catalogue, under the title Cerises et pêches (fig. 1). This painting appears in the 1996 Rewald catalogue raisonné of Cezanne's paintings as no. 561, titled Nature morte au plat de cerises (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Rewald disagreed with Venturi's view that the large fruit in the dish at right were peaches, and felt they were more likely apricots. Rewald noted that cherries were abundant in Provence. 'The last cherries are usually picked in July, at a time when the first apricots ripen, whereas the season of peaches generally begins a little later'.
Venturi dated the oil painting to 1883-1887, and in his notes for revision, 1886-1888. Rewald ascribed the painting to 1885-1887. Chappuis' date for this drawing is 1881-1884, which clearly makes it preparatory, although the drawing describes elements in the upper right hand side of the painting, accounting for only about a third of the final composition. Still life drawings by Cezanne are relatively rare, and account for approximately fifty or so of the more than 1,200 drawings illustrated in Chappuis. Very few of these were sufficiently worked to the point where they can be clearly related to particular still life paintings, as seen here. These were probably done to aid the artist in working out spatial relationships between elements in the composition - in the present case, the transition between the three curvilinear contours that delineate the two dishes and the pot (or poterie marseillaise, as Venturi described it). Chappuis' dating is perhaps too early, for it seems more likely that the drawing was executed once the painting was underway, or shortly before he began it. One notable change between the drawing and the final oil composition can be observed in the tilt of the dish of cherries at left, which is extremely pronounced in the painting.
The use of hatching lends a considerable sense of depth to this pencil drawing, both in the definition of contours, and, very rare in the still life drawings, the establishing of a background. Rewald noted that Robert Radcliffe, in an unpublished doctoral dissertation written in 1960, proposed that the background in the oil painting was part of a large screen based on 18th century tapestries that Cézanne painted circa 1859 (R 1). The drawing is far less descriptive in this respect than the painting, although there is a tantalising detail, perhaps a fragment of a floral motif from the screen, visible to the upper right of the pot.
Venturi dated the oil painting to 1883-1887, and in his notes for revision, 1886-1888. Rewald ascribed the painting to 1885-1887. Chappuis' date for this drawing is 1881-1884, which clearly makes it preparatory, although the drawing describes elements in the upper right hand side of the painting, accounting for only about a third of the final composition. Still life drawings by Cezanne are relatively rare, and account for approximately fifty or so of the more than 1,200 drawings illustrated in Chappuis. Very few of these were sufficiently worked to the point where they can be clearly related to particular still life paintings, as seen here. These were probably done to aid the artist in working out spatial relationships between elements in the composition - in the present case, the transition between the three curvilinear contours that delineate the two dishes and the pot (or poterie marseillaise, as Venturi described it). Chappuis' dating is perhaps too early, for it seems more likely that the drawing was executed once the painting was underway, or shortly before he began it. One notable change between the drawing and the final oil composition can be observed in the tilt of the dish of cherries at left, which is extremely pronounced in the painting.
The use of hatching lends a considerable sense of depth to this pencil drawing, both in the definition of contours, and, very rare in the still life drawings, the establishing of a background. Rewald noted that Robert Radcliffe, in an unpublished doctoral dissertation written in 1960, proposed that the background in the oil painting was part of a large screen based on 18th century tapestries that Cézanne painted circa 1859 (R 1). The drawing is far less descriptive in this respect than the painting, although there is a tantalising detail, perhaps a fragment of a floral motif from the screen, visible to the upper right of the pot.